CONCLUSION

   When choosing which drives to get for use with a NAS performance should not be the first thing consumers should look for and that actually makes sense since lower power consumption, temperatures and even noise levels could be more “beneficial” (error correction technologies too but that's not something we can measure). With that in mind the Red line of HDDs by Western Digital does extremely well as you can all tell from our charts. There are however obviously those who will also look at performance levels and in that area the WD40EFRX has really nothing special to show especially since when the “regular” NAS series by Seagate leads in almost every test (aside in sisoftware sandra pro and noise levels). We can’t of course directly compare the 4TB Red with the 8TB NAS HDD so we do hope Western Digital will send a higher capacity of this line for us to check (or from the Red Pro line).

   In terms of price the Red 4TB WD40EFRX by WD does quite well since it currently retails for USD149.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 167Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) but again finishes after the equivalent NAS HDD by Seagate which is also roughly 8% cheaper. What saves the WD40EFRX is its lower electrical consumption (4.5W max vs the 9W of the NAS HDD) and its 5 year warranty (compared to the 3 years of the NAS HDD) so not all is lost. In the end if you care more about performance the NAS HDD by Seagate is really a one way (unless you can afford the more expensive Enterprise NAS line) but if reduced power consumption with low noise levels and a longer warranty are more important for you the WD Red 4TB (WD40EFRX) is for you and that’s why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (MTBF Of 1.000.000 Hours)
- Good Read/Write Performance
- NASware 3.0 Features
- Low Temperatures, Noise Levels & Power Consumption
- 24/7 Support & 5 Years Warranty

CONS

- Overall Performance & Price (Compared To the Competition)